Hello... I'm a newbie from Northern NSW, Oz :)

Discussion in 'Introduce Yourself Here' started by Tree hugger, Dec 27, 2012.

  1. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    Greetings, all :)

    I only stumbled upon this site today, which is amazing because I've been reading up on most things permaculture for a loooooong time :) Anyway, yay... I've found it!!! :)

    I'm blessed to live on a beautiful piece of land in the Northern Rivers, NSW, not too far from the Permaculture Institute's home territory.My profile admits my shortcomings, so folks won't be too surprised to read that I'm hoping to absorb much useful info from those willing to share re permaculture related topics. Thank you all for being part of this wonderful Earth-friendly way of being :).
     
  2. Steve Burgess

    Steve Burgess Junior Member

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    Hi
    I'm a newcomer as well, but have been impressed by people on this forum being active and sociable. I'm t'other side of the border from you, in the Mary Valley, Qld, but a little bit familiar with your part of the world. Very similar soils and growing conditions. Have you been on your piece of land for very long?
     
  3. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    Hi Steve. Pleased to meet you :) You're the first response I've had, to date, being seriously newbie... :) But, yes, lots of helpful exchanging of knowledge and ideas here ... truly wonderful! :) I've certainly heard of Mary Valley, but not sure of exactly where it is... will look it up!

    We found our place many years ago, and then took a couple more years extricating ourselves from Sydney and making our way up here. Have been here roughly a decade and a half, and have loved every minute of it. One might imagine that having 15 years behind us would have seen us get more planted etc etc, but, well, Life :) Still, our baby rainforest is thriving, we do have SOME veges, many fruit trees are bearing fruit this year, and my aspirations grow at an even faster pace than our plantings :) What about you?
     
  4. Steve Burgess

    Steve Burgess Junior Member

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    Understand the "Life :)' comment

    We've been here (Dagun, south of Gympie) in the Mary Valley for 18 years, with many bursts of enthusiasm tempered by set-backs. In that time we've had one lot of children grow up here and move away, another one move back here with her husband and three kids, who have now settled close by. People die, get sick, circumstances change, jobs/roles/respobsibilities change. What happens to the initial grand 'vision' for a property reflects all these 'life' things. Nothing much has gone really to design here- some things have gone "better", many things have gone "worse". Still love it here though - I'll be carried out in a cardboard box (with no shoes on, to attend my wake, where I insist that everyone is encouraged to dance like mad fools with no pride).
     
  5. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    I don't comment until I see some photos. I want to see the baby rainforest!
     
  6. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    Hee hee... I just have to get better at uploading images, first, because I have to drag them over from my computer docs... I don't have a web gallery thing (nor really understand one)... :) Soon... I must get more recent images of my rainforest bubs, though... the last were taken during flood, so must have been a good while ago... :think:
     
  7. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    I understand that situation very well. :shake: Kids, change of plan, travel, illness, climate... our kids now grown, not yet with child for the next generation, but soon, perhaps... They'll carry me out in a cardboard box, too (unless I can organise a 'plot', first), painted with some happy theme, same as other loved ones' coffins before me. (We've totally excited a very traditional funeral home staffer with our previous painting efforts :)) I love it here, and simply won't leave... just won't... not even if lantana swallows me up... it conditions the soil nicely, anyway :). I've already teed up the singing of my favourite, most sacred, a cappela songs, complete with choir accompaniment.. but I'd like to join in and go out singing... best bring my wake forward a tad :rofl:
     
  8. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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  9. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    Thank you, S.O.P :) I followed your guidance and did get a place I'm familair with from posting on another site, but when I hit upload after browsing and selecting the file, it stalls... Is there a really little file size required? My images were approx 80-120kbs... I will try again later just in case it's just slow time :)
     
  10. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    Hello again, S.O.P :)

    I've added some images to my 'project' profile for Nunkeri Earth Healing Sanctuary. There are a few images of my baby rainforest in that... It's not so very 'baby', I guess... the first tree being planted in Dec '99.... Those earliest ones took a good while to establish, though, as they were planted into existing pasture, facing west, and when it wasn't busy being filthy hot, dry, weather, it rained, and the water came rushing down the seasonal gully in torrential downpours, which happened two months after the first 40 trees were planted. I feared the worst the day that flood went through... tiny baby rainforest trees, only having their toes in the soil for two months, finding themselves under water deeper than their own height. It seriously looked as though the whole lot had been washed underground and into the creek below, as there was no sign of plants, stakes, or etc... but, being too stubborn to give up, I gently peeled back the mass of built up mulch, and found tiny, bent over rainforest babies just waiting to be given a second chance. :) Only two of those 40 plants were lost for good. :) Still not great photos on my project page, but at least it is an album :)

    Please bear in mind that either side of the driveway shown in the photos was nought but grassy paddock with an occasional Rough-barked Apple (the dominant canopy species, locally, in similarly grazed blocks) standing as sentinel to our goings on. Now my baby rainforest is throwing off its own baby rainforest, mainly Silky Oaks and occasional others like Creek sandpaper fig etc. Yay! :)
     
  11. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    Hi again, S.O.P. I just viewed your own project, which is amazing, and wondered just HOW you got all those wonderful images on that one article, and how you got them that size on the page...

    Your block's transformation is truly fantastic!!! Make's my own progress feel even slower............. Oops.......... Ah well, I'm all fired up again, now :)
     
  12. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    I'm still trying to view your pictures as I'm not receiving my emails from the Permaculture Network.

    My photos are hosted on an image sharing site called Imgur, I created an account and uploaded them to a Folder there. I have other pictures, such as interesting trees, bees, Bazman's Open Garden etc.
     
  13. S.O.P

    S.O.P Moderator

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    Google got me to where I needed to go.

    How is your weather there now? Dry? It looks like every photo is wet or overcast!

    That Ficus macrophylla will look nice when it arches over the driveway. And I'm fairly impressed with that planting list.

    Your wishlist is plants you don't have? With your organisational skills, they should be fairly easy to gather!
     
  14. Tree hugger

    Tree hugger Junior Member

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    Computer issues, hence delayed response :)

    Weather now is either REALLY hot or overcast... of late has been mainly really hot and dry, but tending towards muggy, then a storm, then back to really hot again... Some photos were taken a good while ago, when it was really wet... many months ago, really... I've only really taken a handful of new shots, and they're not uploaded yet, but dragging out slightly older ones and then having new ones sorted to compare time frames/growth etc is good... One thing that most have in common is the lack of adequate maintenance of plants... sometimes it feels that a 1/4 acre block would be more do-able... but we have the space, and I do love it!!! Just means more maintenance issues!!! ie Setaria everywhere!!!

    Thank you for exlaining re image sites...I will look into it more another day when I have time...

    Yes.... not sure about the F.macrophylla.... perhaps it will swallow the driveway rather than just arch over it :) A curving driveway is better Feng Shui, anyway :)

    The wishlist... yes.... there are many more out there that I'd love to get, I'm sure... some are just not climatically viable, I think, even with microclimate manipulation, as some just won't fruit unless it gets hot enough, and wet/dry enough, at the same time, and I can't manage that... I just remembered a palm tree that sounds seriously cool, which supposedly is in the Brisbane Bot gardens (???)... Parajubaea coccoides... It has a miniature coconut fruit with edible coconut flavoured flesh... very cool... just have to track one down...... I think it is called quito palm or something similar... So many amazing plants on this planet! :)
     

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